Researchers make signing mobiles

 

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By Alun Williams

Posted on 19 Feb 2007 at 15:39

Researchers are customising mobile phones to make them suitable for deaf people to chat using sign language. This is the goal of MobileASL, a video compression project at the University of Washington.

By the use of video compression techniques, it has proved possible to send live pictures of users signing across relatively low-bandwidth mobile networks, reports the BBC.

Essentially, the system works by concentrating on the detail of facial expressions and hand movements by only sending data about the relevant parts of the picture that have changed. This is a common technique for computer graphics but it is now being applied to help the deaf by specifically focusing on hand, arm and face movements.

'The large, slower movements of hands and arms can be picked up at low fidelity,' the BBC quotes the Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Richard Ladner. 'The face needs higher fidelity because the movements are much smaller.'

According to the report, the US researchers are currently negotiating with handset makers to make the system widely available for deaf people.

You can find more information on the MobileASL section of the university's website, ASL standing for American Sign Language.